Apparently, One New Robin Hood Movie Isn't Enough

The original rumors about Ridley Scott's Robin Hood were much better than the version we seem to be getting. It was called Nottingham, it pushed the Sheriff into the spotlight and made Robin Hood a bad guy - which, let's face it, he very well could have been - and at one point was supposedly going to star Russell Crowe in both roles. Why wouldn't they make that movie? The truth is, though, that it's Robin Hood, Crowe's heroic, and there's a new Sheriff of Nottingham. Could still be good, but seems like it's taking the pitch on the 3-0 count instead of swinging for the fences. Now...there's another Robin Hood, and Warner Bros. is making this one, too. How is it different? Well, for one thing, it's futuristic, and The Hollywood Reporter says "it will be set in a dystopian London and center on a band of thieves whose activities restore hope to the city’s embattled population" and will both be inspired by and pay tribute to the original folklore. Robin Hood in the 25th Century or whatever it's going to be has just hired Jason Hall, fresh off the new Ashton Kutcher movie, Spread. Commercial director and photographer Nicolai Fulsig has been tapped to direct, and I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not those are significant choices either way. I think the story of Robin Hood has been told so many times now that anything different is probably a good thing, hence my disappointment that Ridley Scott isn't playing by the first batch of rumors about his project. It does seem peculiar to me that Warner Bros. is making both movies, especially because it had so much trouble getting Scott's Robin Hood going, with re-casting, script revisions, and the color of foliage all conributing to a late start. Perhaps the story reaches into contemporary affairs with Wall Street, a strong distrust of government for the past few years in particular, and a sense that everything's not OK. In times like those, a Robin Hood figure rises to the top. Look at John Dillinger during the Depression.